Life Saving Treatment - Brooke Kajdy

Hi everyone,

My name is Gabriel Kajdy, and my wife and I need your help. My wife’s name is Brooke Kajdy. She is 23 years old, a wife, daughter, and a friend to many, but most importantly she is the mother of our two beautiful, young babies: Sophie who will be three in December, and Theo who just turned one in August. Anyone who knows her would tell you she is the most unselfish, positive person they know. She loves her family and kids more than anything.

In June of last year, Brooke was diagnosed with stage 4 B-cell lymphoma while pregnant with our son. In the months leading up to her diagnosis, she was given misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, being told that her symptoms were related to the pregnancy and she would just have to “wait it out” until she gave birth. She could hardly eat, was in crippling pain, so weak she had to crawl up the stairs, and they told her it was because she was pregnant. Once getting the correct diagnosis, we were given two options: either terminate the pregnancy via injection, which would have resulted in the still birth of our child, and start full treatment, or chose to continue the pregnancy. This choice meant they would need to alter the chemotherapy treatment to minimise potential side effects to the baby. The doctors felt they could get Theo to a point where he could survive in the NICU, and after childbirth Brooke could continue on with a higher toxicity chemotherapy that would not have been safe for the baby.

Even after being diagnosed with this life threatening disease, Brooke made the most unselfish decision I think anyone could ever make. She didn't think twice about choosing to save our unborn sons life, even if it meant risking her own. She started treatment at 20 weeks pregnant, during which time she spent almost a month admitted as a patient at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre here in Calgary. There were times during those weeks I thought I was going to lose both my wife and son. Brooke spent a couple of days in the ICU and cardiology units because her potassium levels went dangerously high, causing extreme strain on her heart and kidney's. This also impacted our unborn child, with scans showing possible signs of ascites (fluid in his abdomen). Brooke fought and refused to give up on our son. We made it to the 32 week mark and she delivered Theo via C-section. Something that normally takes 6 weeks plus to heal from, Brooke was given only a week, before she was admitted to hospital again so she could continue treatment at higher doses. Theo spent a total of two months in the NICU, thankfully his only real issue was putting on weight and he was/is otherwise completely healthy. He is a fighter just like his mom.

Once Brooke completed her initial chemo treatments, the scans unfortunately showed that the cancer was still active and had even grown in some spots. Our next treatment option was a new immunotherapy called CAR-T cell therapy. We did our research and were feeling extremely hopeful. Brooke completed the CAR-T cell therapy in November of 2023. In December 2023, we had our appointment with her oncologist to see if the treatment had worked. We were both sat down in the examination room where her doctor came in and sat down, looked us both in the eyes and told us that the treatment hadn't worked and she gave Brooke 6 months to a year to live. This news absolutely destroyed us, but Brooke wasn't going to accept it and wanted to keep fighting. We then got a new doctor, and requested more scans, the new scans showed that the CAR-T treatment was in fact working, and the original doctor was comparing scans that had been done weeks before Brooke received the CAR-T cell treatment. When asked why they didn't do more scans during the treatment, so they could have an accurate idea of what was going on, the answer we got was "lack of hospital resources". This is just one instance of the medical malpractice we have experienced since the start of Brooke’s cancer journey. We waited and prayed the CAR-T cells would put Brooke into remission, but it did not. It was like a slap in the face. We were told it killed about 95% of the cancer, but there were still signs of active disease. Since Brookes diagnosis, she has undergone several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy. All of which have worked to a certain degree. However, her disease is particularly stubborn and highly aggressive. Unfortunately there are only so many therapies they currently offer here in Canada, and unfortunately she has not had a complete response to any of them.

Which bring us to the present, and the reason why we have created this Go Fund Me. After completing her most recent round of chemotherapy, she had a CT scan, and the CT showed no active signs of disease. Of course we were all absolutely elated, but her oncologist wanted to order a PET scan to confirm the remission before she was scheduled to go in for a stem-cell transplant (for reference, PET scans offer a much more in-depth look at things than a CT scan). She went in for a meeting with him the following Monday, and he told us that not only was there remnants of the original disease, but new disease had also popped up on her left side. Neither of these showed up on the original CT. Brooke asked "What do we do now?" And the silence that followed was deafening. He told us that we are running out of options, and our best bet was to look in to trials being offered internationally.

We have since found two trials being offered, and are working to see which would be the best fit for Brooke and her particular disease. The biggest hurdle regarding these trials is the cost. These trials can range upwards of $500,000 (closer to the 1 million mark). The drug itself is covered, however we have to pay for the hospital stay, the tests, the scans, the doctors, the list goes on and on. We would likely be residing in America for at least one month while she completes treatment, and then taking trips back every 3 months for at least a year.

The drug company will not even talk to us without proof that we have the means to fund this treatment. This is our last hope. Please, if you can donate anything it would mean the world to my family and I. If you can't, please just share our story and our Go Fund Me with everyone you know. Please, I can’t lose my wife, my kids need their mom.

Thank you so much for reading, sharing and donating.

The Kajdy Family.